Law, Strategy, and Risk in Commercial Disputes
Today the Seventh Circuit rapped the idea that consumer fraud cases never qualify for class treatment.
The panel affirmed certification of two classes of people who bought defective windows, which let water seep in and somehow promoted wood rot. That decision of the class issues won't resolve all issues didn't bar certification, the court held. …
The Third Circuit held today, 6-4, that courts must decide whether to enforce a class ban in arbitration clauses. Courts may not defer the question to arbitrators because, the majority ruled, the unconscionability or not of a contractual bar to class treatment raises an issue of "arbitrability", which the federal Arbitration Act leaves to judges.
Today the U.S. Supreme Court broke 5-3 in favor of a rule against class arbitration.
The majority held that an arbitration panel exceeds its authority under the federal Arbitration Act when it construes an agreement to arbitrate as allowing class treatment of a dispute unless the agreement shows the parties intended to permit such a…
An 11-judge en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit today upheld certification of a sex discrimination case against Walmart. Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., No. 04-16688 (9th Cir. Apr. 26, 2010).
Chief Judge Kozinski and Circuit Judge Ikuta filed dissents.
The U.S. Supreme Court held today that "mistakes of law" by debt collectors don't count as "bona fide errors" under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Justice Sotomayor wrote the Court's opinion; Justice Scalia concurred in part and in the judgment; and Justice Kennedy (with Justice Alito) filed a dissent. Jerman v. Carlisle, McNellie, Rini, …
The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation decided to send the Toyota cases to Santa Ana, California. It explained:
The oral arguments were quite helpful to the Panel and seemed to focus on several important issues. Some attorneys questioned whether one judge or particular judge would have the necessary time and resources to handle such
…
Does a class action judgment that released "any and all claims" against a defendant bar all class members' claims in a separate class action against that defendant?
The Ninth Circuit today held that enforcing such a release would violate the class members' due process rights. The first class case involved claims that Sprint improperly charged…
The Second Circuit held today that plaintiffs who alleged a securities fraud claim against Omnicom Group lacked proof of "loss causation" — an often fatal flaw in such cases. The panel affirmed summary judgment for the defendants.
Plaintiffs pointed to an expert's opinion that a disclosure in June 2002 prompted Omnicom's stock price to drop. …
The chair of the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, John G. Heyburn (W.D. Ky.), gave an interview last month in The Third Branch: Newsletter of the Federal Courts. He talked about how the Panel promotes efficient litigation management. But most lawyers will want to know his thoughts on the "primary criteria" for choosing…
Blawgletter long thought that you had to jump through a Copyright Office hoop before you could sue someone for using a copy of your “works” – cartoons you drew, paintings you painted, etchings you etched, and stuff you wrote. You had to get the CO to "register" your at-least-a-little-bit-original and in-a-tangible-medium output.
We knew that…